Barriers That Tenants Face In Rent Court

By: Malique Parker

In rent court, there are many barriers that tenants face. There are landlords, landlord's agents, landlord's attorneys, and even Judges. Let us focus on the landlord's agents for this story.

The landlord agent is there on behalf of the landlord to represent them in court. One of the problems that Baltimore Renters United (BRU) organizers observe in rent court is that if a tenant brings up any habitability issues to the court, the agent can't confirm any of the problems and most of the time would ask for rescheduling so the landlord could come into court. If the tenant brings up that the landlord isn’t making maintenance requests in a timely manner, the same thing will happen. Having to reschedule a rent court case affects the tenants more than one would think it would. First, they probably had to call out of work to come to court, find a babysitter for the children, or come straight from work to court and now they would have to do all of that over again.

On Thursday, May 25, 2023, at 8:00 am docket Judge Theresa Morse presided over a case where the agent was representing the landlord. Judge Morse asked the agents where they and the tenant were able to speak outside in the hallway. The agent responds with a “yes”.  However, the tenant informed Judge Morse that he doesn't have any of his receipts and he would like a postponement to get them. But I am ready to move forward with this case.” Judge Morse asked the tenant to tell his side of the story. He informed the court that he has been sending his rent in the mail for years and had never been in of rent court before. He said he has all of his money order receipts and would like a postponement to get those. After a few moments after the tenants' testimony, Judge Morse denied his request for a postponement and proceeded through the rest of his case, he was forced to a consent judgment for $1,200. The tenant was frustrated and confused about what had just happened.